The invention relates to a rotary screen printing machine with a supporting structure for at least one cylindrical thin-walled stencil with two end rings which are each mounted to an end of the stencil via a circular connecting area. The structure includes two opposite stationary parts supported by the frame, a sleeve connected with an end ring of the associated stencil being rotatably supported in each part. Such a machine is known in various versions, as appears from U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,304,860, 3,675,571 and 3,718,086 as well as from copending patent applications Ser. No. 383,155, now U.S. Pat. No. 3,933,093 and Ser. No. 395,656, which has gone abandon and been replaced by a continuation-in-part application Ser. No. 608,268, now U.S. Pat. No. 3,420,167.
In such a machine the stencil, which consists of a thin-walled (.+-.0.08 mm) perforated cylinder, is the most vulnerable element. Since the stencil is mounted in the machine under some axial tension (in order to achieve a greater rigidity of the thin wall) the frame in which the stencil is supported may be slightly deflected. Minor imperfections may also be present in the position of the two parts of the supporting structure, the centrelines of which should be exactly coaxial. Due to these circumstances a varying load is applied to the stencil, whereby the life time is considerably shortened.